Bike test: Yamaha YZ250 vs YZ250F
BLUE TOOTH & NAIL
YZ250 vs YZ250F
WORDS AND PHOTOS BY SIMON MAKKER
The two-stroke vs four-stroke argument has been thrashed out more times than Paris Hilton and Britney Spears have hoisted their skirts, and while the four-stroke has won the racing fraternity over, the two-stroke has held its ground in the freestyle compound. Even now, more than 10 years after Yamaha introduced its first high-performance YZ400F, the two-banger is still by far the most popular bike when it comes to hitting ramps.
But is the tide slowly starting to turn? Ever so slowly we’ve started to see riders trade two strokes for four: Bilko, Cam Sinclair, Kain Saul, Levi Sherwood and a host of second-tier pro riders have all converted to the thumper, and we reckon it’s likely the trend will slowly continue.
With that in mind, we sprung a fascinating plan: let’s put the two most popular bikes – the 2009 YZ250 and the YZ250F – up against each other for an all-in, winner-takes-all stoush! We’d test the machines at FMX, supercross and freeriding to see which is the best in each area. To make it fair, our testers would come from both sides of the fence: Steve Sommerfeld currently rides a YZ250, but first started FMX on a YZ250F; and Joe Sheppard rode two-strokes before making the change to a KX250F earlier this year.
All in all, it was shaping up to be an intriguing comparo …calls were made, bikes were freighted and a killer test venue – complete with ramps, a supercross track and several big freeriding-type dirt hits – was locked down. It was crunch time!
2009 YZ250
WHAT’S NEW?
• Exhaust pipe and silencer changed from AMA-spec to FIM-spec
• New tyres – Dunlop 742FS (front) and 756 (rear)
• Rear master cylinder is longer and a cir-clip added to keep the separator away from the port holes, increasing braking efficiency.
• D.I.D. gold chain
• Aluminium front brake hose bracket
Motor
Like any two-stroke, Yami’s 2009 YZ250 is a piece of cake to start. One kick is usually all it takes to get her ticking over.
Once we headed on to the track we found our model was a bit doughy off the bottom. It could’ve been a jetting issue and could possibly be fixed by playing with the pilot and needle, but the bottom-end power didn’t have the crispness we usually expect from the YZ. This meant that on supercross tracks with tight berms and jumps out of corners it was a bit hit-and-miss as to whether we’d clear them.
The mid-range, however, is punchy and comes on strongly. It’s not a pull-your-arms-out-of-their-sockets-type hit, but it’s definitely meaty and provides a welcome boost of power to help you launch over any approaching obstacles.
And once the power comes on, it keeps hauling until the blue demon is revving its tits off; you’ll find it’ll keep pulling long after you’ve expected it to sign off, as the YZ winds through its seemingly endless top-end.
Tractability – or a lack of it – is a bit of an issue with the two-banger. It’s not so bad in a ramp situation where you’re going in a straight line and the majority of your acceleration is on the steel, but if you try and get on the gas out of a corner you’ll find it’ll break traction and start spinning. We did find this occasionally worked OK for freeriding, though, as having the rear slide out a little under power can help line you up for the next jump once the rear knobby bites into the grass and hooks up again.
The clutch is crisp and light, with plenty of feel at the lever, and even though there’ve been no changes to the clutch for 2009, Steve Sommerfeld – who’s 2008 bike is only five weeks old – vows the ’09’s clutch feels lighter and smoother than his own.
The gearbox is silky smooth and there’re no problems with gear selection or trying to find neutral when you want to park up, and the gear ratios are on the money. Second gear is broad and strong, which is great for freestyle. With so many YZs running around the freestyle compound nowadays, it’s become the standardised set-up, and you can always find someone to speed-check on the ramps, and hitting 75ft is a no-brainer.
The new exhaust is noticeably quieter than previous years, and the expansion chamber’s new layout tucked further against the engine makes it feel a lot more streamlined.
Suspension & Handling
One thing we do like about Yamaha’s suspension is the amount of clickers you have to play with. There’re 21 clicks on the fork compression alone!
For motocross and supercross tracks – and even for a bit of freeriding – the fork works fine, but once you start getting adventurous and take the YZ off ramps you’ll soon find its limitations.
Even with the compression wound up we still found the fork tends to push through the mid-stroke pretty quickly on bigger-sized hits, meaning the bottom part of the stroke had to do a lot of the work. Bottoming resistance also isn’t the greatest, and we experienced a lot of hard landings as the fork hit the stoppers.
Joe Sheppard, who used to use YZs for freestyle, reckons increasing the fork oil height by 15-20ml will provide extra bottoming resistance, and the new .45kg springs that grace the YZ250F will also provide better bottoming resistance.
The YZ250 also is a bit of a handful in tighter corners: it feels stable, but has a tendency to push the front wheel outwards instead of railing nicely. Maybe it’s just a matter of the geometry being a bit more old-fashioned than the YZ-F, as it’s still sporting the 2005 frame.
While bottoming resistance is an issue up the front of the bike, the shock does a cracker job at absorbing big hits and we only bottomed it out on rare occasions when casing the odd jump on the supercross track. However, even with our rebound wound right up it was still too springy and tended to kick us in the bum once we left the ramp, and in the whoops you’ll find it’ll try and kick side-to-side as the shock tries to rebound too quickly.
Taking both the fork and shock into account, we found the front-to-rear balance of the bike a bit off, and it almost felt like they wanted to work independently from each other instead of working together as one tidy package.
However, once you get the YZ airborne, you’ll find it thrives and is extremely easy to throw around in the air. You can move on the bike and it’ll move with you predictably. It’s definitely no heavyweight anyway, but it almost feels as though it loses another 10kg once it leaves the ramp.
And if you do find you need to alter the bike’s pitch in the air, a quick tap of the rear brake or a handful of revs will see it respond almost instantly.
Brakes & Ergos
For an old design – the ’09 is still basically the 2005-model geomtery design – it still feels great. It’s slim right through the tank and shrouds, and encourages the rider to move around in the saddle.
The seat-pegs-bar relationship will suit most riders, but taller riders might want to stick a set of taller-bend bars on the clamps to give them a bit more room. And after playing with the different bar positions available on the YZ-F we’re a bit disappointed the YZ has missed out on this upgrade.
Both the front and rear brakes are near perfect, with plenty of response at the pedal and lever without being grabby.
HOW WE RATED IT:
RACING: 6/10 – Riding the YZ250 against the 250F shows just how far the four-strokes have evolved. The two-banger is simply not competitive: it wears you out faster, requires precise throttle control and has tractability issues.
FREERIDING: 8.5/10 – The YZ’s super-light feeling in the air means you can feel confident throwing it any which way off sketchy dirt hips and ramps. The gear ratios – particularly the broad, strong second gear – are perfect for freeriding.
FREESTYLE: 9/10 – No doubt about it, the proof is in the amount of people who now use the YZ250 as their FMX weapon of choice. Jumping a ramp on it is a no-brainer and it does everything right, even though the suspension needs some work before it’s completely ramp-ready.
2009 YZ250F
WHAT’S NEW?
• Redesigned, lighter swingarm
• New ignition mapping and jetting
• New triple clamp with four bar settings
• Upgraded clutch internals
• Revised suspension settings (with .45kg fork springs now stock)
• New rear hub and axle
• New graphics and gripper seat cover
• New levers and perches
Motor
Four-strokes have always been typically harder to start than the reliable two-stroke, and the YZ250F isn’t an exception to that rule. Still, if it takes you more than three kicks to get it going you’re doing something wrong.
The best thing about the 250F is that its smooth, broad and almost linear power-curve ensures the rear wheel sticks to the dirt like shit to a blanket.
The bottom-end power isn’t as punchy as other four-strokes out there on the market, but it’s pliable and easy to use, and you’ll never have to worry about the back-end breaking loose halfway through a corner. Sure it doesn’t have the same power as the two-stroke, but at least the F has power you can use, and there’s always enough on hand.
The transition from the bottom-end into the mid-range is near flawless, and once in the mid, the mill really starts to get its groove on.
The engine is definitely one that needs to be ridden in the higher rev range and thrives when you wind the throttle on. In fact, the YZ-F’s top-end is where it’s at: it almost feels like it won’t stop revving out … and you’ll then find you still have a quarter-turn of the throttle left! This means the thumper’s powerplant is perfect for fast, flowing tracks, but it’s definitely not out of its element on supercross tracks or freeriding either.
The clutch has a similar feel at the lever as its two-strokin’ brother – very light and usable, but it takes a bit to get used to fanning the F’s clutch after riding the YZ, as you don’t experience the instant power hit.
The gear ratios are brilliant for the supercross track and for flowing freeriding lines, but a gearing change is needed if you want to use this bike for freestyle or technical freeriding. Second gear doesn’t go as far as we would’ve liked, and in a tight 75ft FMX compound situation, trying to click third gear on your way up a ramp isn’t really an option. We reckon dropping the rear sprocket from 51 teeth to 49 would make a big difference and would give second gear enough legs to comfortably clear 75ft.
The actual gear shifting on our test model was also pretty notchy and made it hard to find neutral, but we suspect this could be because it was a new model and hadn’t been run in properly.
As mentioned earlier, the YZ-F’s tractability shits all over the two-stroke. It doesn’t seem to matter what the conditions are: the rear wheel will always seem to hook up and haul you out of there. On flat sweepers you can stand up, keep on the gas and be confident it’ll hold its line, while the YZ demands a lot more of a balancing act with a very small margin for error.
Suspension & Handling
Yamaha has increased the fork spring rate from .44kg to .45kg for 2009, and the difference is more than a little noticeable, especially once you start getting the F airborne for extended periods of time.
Even though we set the suspension up for freestyle, the fork still did an admiral job at soaking up whoops and the chattery rough stuff on the supercross track.
We set both bikes up with the same suspension settings, but the YZ-F outshone the YZ in almost every respect.
From the top part of the stroke, right through the mid and into the bottom it’s one progressive, seamless movement. The slightly stiffer fork springs obviously play a large part in this, but the bottoming resistance, too, was great. You’ll still have to get a revalve if you’re going to take the thing off ramps if you care about your ankles, but it still does a pretty good job in its stock state.
The shock is impressive, too: it’s plush and doesn’t rebound back as fiercely as the YZ’s, even though we ran identical settings. The shock has plenty of progression, squats nicely when you charge through ruts and whoops and balance front-to-rear feels near perfect.
On tighter turns in particular you’ll really notice just how well-balanced it is; you can take a finer line and it’ll still hold it when you wind the throttle on.
The YZ-F’s biggest surprise is in how well it handles in the air – even our two-stroke specialist, Steve Sommerfeld, fell in love with it! After jumping from the two-stroke to the four-banger he expected it to be a bit heavier and a bit less responsive in the air. Not so.
It’s uber-flickable both off the ramp and off dirt hits, and the age-old argument that the YZ-F feels heavier in the air has officially been thrown out the window in 2009. Back in 2001 it might’ve been a valid argument, but these machines have come a bloody long way in the past eight years!
Brakes & Ergos
The YZ and YZ-F feel very similar through the waist once you’re in the saddle, but we’re big fans of the F’s new triple clamp that allows you to choose four different bar positions, depending on your height and preferences. The little pieces such as the wide footpegs and flatter seat that allows you to get your weight forward easier for cornering were big pluses.
The seat-pegs-bar relationship is very comfortable and helps you attack the terrain in front of you, and the stock Pro Taper bars would be an ideal bend for most people, but taller riders or those wanting to punch off ramps more than hitting the tracks will want a higher bend.
Both the front and rear brakes are near perfect, with plenty of response at the pedal and lever without being grabby.
HOW WE RATED IT:
RACING: 9/10 – It’s super-smooth, does everything right and outshines the two-stroke in almost every respect around the track. Riding the two and four-stroke back-to-back makes you realise just how damn good the YZ-F is!
FREERIDING: 7.5/10 – A great bike for flowing lines where you can click third, but it needs a gearing change if you’re hitting stuff around the 60-80ft mark. Plenty of smooth power, good suspension and its super-flickable nature means it’d thrive in the hills.
FREESTYLE: 8/10 – The gearing change is the biggest shortcoming, but would easily be fixed by dropping the rear sprocket from 51 teeth to 49. The suspension is impressive and it’s easy to flick around. If second-gear was broader, it’d be damn hard to separate the YZ and the YZ-F on the ramps.
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